Alright, I got security covered, for now, but I don’t like how little mana I am producing. I could send rats on expeditions, but they are part of the security. I can spare a few just to see what they bring, but safety comes first. Not like I got much mana to invest.

For now, I resigned to building up a reserve. For the expeditions, I send 2 rats during the day, and 1 rat with half the moths at night… The mana was building, and growth on moth spawners became visible.

After 6 days, the rat brought something interesting… a strawberry. A red berry with tiny seeds all round. Of course, I could start a farm. Flowers should attract insects for moths to eat, and it’s hard to imagine not finding a use for the fruit. With some mana and a day worth of time, I grow a flower pot on the floor. To save on mana, I had rats fill it with soil and plant the seed.

Ordinarily, I would have to wait for a long time to see growth, but I could assimilate it. It still took about 4 days, but it was well worth it. The bush produced flowers in 3 days and fruit 5 days after that.

More bugs came, nectar and fruit eaten by my residents produced mana, but the plant seemed a bit heavy on upkeep. I suppose growing it in the dark and dry dirt might be to blame. After all, if my fauna could produce mana from feeding, the same might apply to flora. I had rats chew a hole in my wall. I later replaced it with a window. It was thick, murky and overall poor quality glass. Turns out, glass takes a lot of mana.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Now, the big question: did it work? I focused hard on the plant. The upkeep seemed to lessen, well; it was the same, but some was covered by mana produced through photosynthesis. Time for water, and I had just planned for it.

Inside the walls, I would have a chamber storing rainwater, with a tiny drip hole watering the plants. There was also a large hole near the top to dispose of the overflow. Rats would dig the tunnels, then I could smooth them out, and coat them in resins for protection. This took time and mana, quite a lot of both, but it did work. The bush still had upkeep, but profits were great.

I ended up setting a total of 5 bushes. Some outside rodents regularly tried for the strawberries, but my rats were a lot more numerous, and knew the tunnels well enough to trap and flank the unwelcomed quest.

It was day 97, and I was producing 4 times more mana compared to before the strawberry venture. I felt extremely proud of the growth, however, another thought entered my mind. Just like a few I had before, it didn’t feel quite mine. Some people surely know about dungeons. How should I deal with them? I had some inkling of an idea… an idea that also didn’t seem quite mine.